General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

Arbitrary detention and disproportionate use of military force, the expansion of settlements and the blockade of the Gaza Strip continued to constrain the functioning of the Palestinian Authority while contributing to the growing economic and social hardship faced by its citizens, Rima Khalaf, Executive Secretary for Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today.

Keeping biological, chemical and nuclear weapons from terrorists, bolstering regional and subregional arms control and speeding results from nuclear disarmament promises and processes were among the aims of the 17 draft texts approved today as the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) began taking action on the 53 draft texts before it.

The Presidents of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court today implored General Assembly delegates to honour the Courts’ jurisdictions, and respectively, rely on international law to resolve disputes between States, and “stand united” behind collective efforts to suppress the gravest crimes known to humanity.

United Nations peacekeeping, as the Organization’s pre-eminent instrument in maintaining international peace and security and complement to such crucial tools as mediation and peace accords, required a reliable partnership with the Security Council and the critical consent of the parties, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) heard today during its debate on peacekeeping.

Tunisia’s recent historic vote held this past weekend showed how the United Nations can help bolster democratic transitions and peace, while fully respecting national leadership and ownership of elections, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) was told today.

As the Sixth Committee continued its annual discussion of the report of the International Law Commission, delegations pointed out that in the past five years, the Commission had finalized three significant chapters of work: on reservations to treaties, the responsibility of international organizations, and the effect of armed conflicts on treaties.

Farmers were not just farmers, they were also entrepreneurs and should be treated as such, the representative of the Netherlands told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it concluded its consideration of agriculture development and food security.

Warned throughout the debate today in the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) that the “world cannot afford to stand still on the crucial issues of disarmament and non-proliferation”, delegations struggled once more to understand the root cause for the dysfunction in the United Nations disarmament machinery in order to evolve a common approach to correcting it.

Drawing parallels to recent political uprisings in defence of freedom and self-determination, General Assembly delegates today again denounced the decades-old economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba, voting overwhelmingly to adopt the world body’s twentieth consecutive resolution calling for an end to the measures.

It was the “responsibility and privilege” of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations to bring the Organization’s highest ideals to the service of people who, having endured conflict and war, still fought to grasp the promise of peace, security and prosperity, said the new Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, addressing the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) for the first time in that capacity.